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With Christmas and New Year just around the corner, we invite the public to generously give blood at the blood drives held in many regions as well as at the GLOBULE Blood Donor Centres. Since November 28, over 15,500 people have given blood at the 110 blood drives held thus far. “Share a unique gift. Give blood. Give life.” is the theme of this year's campaign, which will continue until January 6, 2006. As part of this campaign, Héma-Québec will have organized some 200 blood drives with volunteers and various community partners in order to receive 31,000 donors throughout Québec.

Héma-Québec has passed annual inspection of its Montréal facilities. Consequently, inspectors of Health Canada maintained its establishment licence. The yearly procedural audit took place between October 24 and November 4, 2005.

Under the theme “Share a unique gift. Give blood. Give life.”, Héma-Québec's holiday season campaign will take place from November 28, 2005 to January 6, 2006. During this time, Héma-Québec hopes to welcome more than 31,000 blood donors at the some 200 blood drives that will be organized in co-operation with community volunteers and partner organizations throughout Québec.

Claude Béchard, Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Exports, presented the Armand-Frappier Award to Dr. Francine Décary at the Prix du Québec awards ceremony held this afternoon at the Québec National Assembly. The award represents the highest distinction from the Québec Government for the creation or development of research facilities or the administration and promotion of research.

Effective today, November 7, 2005, Héma-Québec modifies its blood donor selection criterion with respect to malaria. Héma-Québec has decided to re-evaluate the at-risk areas in the Dominican Republic as a result of the notice recently issued by the public health authorities concerned. Héma-Québec considers that the province of La Altagracia in the Dominican Republic, in particular the towns of Bayahibe, Romana, Punta Cana as well as tourist sites on the islands of Catalina and Saona, is a risk area for malaria.

Today Université de Montréal inaugurates the Association of Blood Donation Volunteers – Héma-Québec – Bayer Chair in Transfusion Medicine, a Chair that is destined to play a leading role in the development of research into, training on, and the application of transfusion medicine in Québec.

Héma-Québec is joining the Canadian Forces in a blood donation campaign across the country from November 1st, 2005 to January 13, 2006. Organized in collaboration with the Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Armed Forces, this campaign is being held for the fourth year.

After seven years of existence, Héma-Québec is proud to release the summary of its major accomplishments in 2004–2005. Five performance indicators guide the organization through its projects, namely: human resources, supply adequacy and safety, customer service, and efficiency.

The study identifies the factors that influence Quebecers in their intention to give blood

Montréal, October 3, 2005

Gaston Godin, PhD, holder of the Canada Research Chair on Behaviour and Health at Université Laval’s Faculty of Nursing, is the lead author of an article that has just been published in the October 2005 edition of Vox Sanguinis. Dr. Marc Germain, Héma-Québec’s Vice-President, Human Tissues, as well as two British researchers in the field of psychology, co-authored the article. The authors’ goal was to identify which factors influence an individual’s decision to give blood or not. This first study deals with the intentions of the general public in Québec. A second study—which will concentrate on the intentions of donors—should be published in 2006.

From June 6 to September 4 of this year, 75,500 individuals gave blood as part of the “This summer, bring good habits to life. Give blood. Give life.” campaign. Indeed, Héma-Québec welcomed these thousands of donors at some 600 blood drives organized with the help of thousands of volunteers, thus enabling it to maintain Québec’s collective blood supply.

For the first time, Héma-Québec’s West Nile virus (WNV) screening test has detected the presence of WNV in a blood donation collected in Montréal on August 31, 2005. All blood products derived from the donation haven’t been used and have been destroyed. Both the donor and public health authorities have been notified. The donor concerned has been prohibited from donating blood for 56 days. At the end of this temporary prohibition period, the virus will no longer be present in the donor’s blood.

After Canadian Blood Services identified West Nile Virus (WNV) in two blood donations collected in Eastern Ontario, Héma-Québec has decided to take additional precautionary measures to protect blood donations collected during blood drives held mainly in the Outaouais region.

As of July 20, 2005, Héma-Québec has changed its blood donor selection criteria with respect to malaria. Tourists who travelled to the province of La Altagracia in the Dominican Republic, in particular, Bayahibe, Romana, Punta Cana as well as tourist sites on the islands of Catalina and Saona, and who have been back in Canada since May 6, may now give blood again. Note that there is no risk in the following Dominican Republic seaside resorts and cities: Bocachica, Cabarete, Juan Dolio, Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Sosua, Las Terenas and the Samana Peninsula.

Effective July 6, 2005, Héma-Québec will modify its blood donor selection criterion with respect to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The blood product supplier's objective is to allow more individuals to give blood and to reinstate certain donors excluded with the former criterion. Furthermore, travellers who made their first visit to the United Kingdom or France since January 1, 1997 will now be allowed to donate blood, regardless of the length of their stay.

June 14 marks the second World Blood Donor Day. The theme of this special day is “A Tribute to Donors,” and it’s an opportunity to thank volunteer blood donors around the world for the valuable contribution they make to their communities and to encourage new persons to give blood regularly. In Quebec alone, Héma-Québec handles an average of 320,000 blood donors each year during blood drives and at Globule blood donor centres.

Quebeckers are invited to generously donate blood between June 6 and September 4, 2005. This 13-week period will be crucial for maintaining the public blood supply at an acceptable level. We are expecting approximately 7,000 donors each week to make a gift of life at one of our blood drives or GLOBULE blood donor centres.

As part of National Volunteer Week that runs from April 17–23, Héma-Québec would like to remind the public that volunteer action is absolutely essential for maintaining Québec’s blood supply. In addition to the 320,000 individuals who voluntarily give blood every year, Héma-Québec relies on the generous contribution of thousands of other Quebeckers who support its endeavours by recruiting donors, organizing blood drives or volunteering their services at the blood donor clinics.

Héma-Québec received American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accreditation for the collection, processing, storage and distribution of musculoskeletal tissue and the collection of cardiac tissue. The AATB currently is the only reference institution in terms of standards governing human tissue banks in North America. By successfully meeting the requirements of the U.S. organization, Héma-Québec becomes one of a hundred establishments having received this accreditation worldwide. Note that Héma-Québec, as a supplier of blood products, is the first to receive this accreditation in Canada.

Héma-Québec is joining forces with Diving Plongeon Canada, world champion Émilie Heymans and Canadian Blood Services to promote blood donation. Today, the three are launching a campaign that will be held across the country from now until April 30, 2005.

Héma-Québec has just received authorization from Health Canada to stop systematic screening for West Nile virus (WNV) in blood donations made between December 1 and May 31 of each year. This year, this measure will exceptionally be in force from April 4 to May 31 inclusively.

Héma-Québec has passed its annual inspection. Consequently, inspectors of Health Canada maintained Héma-Québec's operating licence following the yearly procedural audits, which took place at the Montréal facility between November 17 and 30, 2004 and at the Québec facility between January 17 and 21, 2005.

Some 28,500 people gave blood during the holiday campaign of Héma-Québec, Québec's supplier of blood products. The initial objective was to welcome 33,000 donors. During the campaign held from December 2, 2004, to January 9, 2005, themed on Share a unique gift, some 175 blood drives were organized throughout Québec by hundreds of volunteers from partner organizations.